On This Day After Earth Day

Earth Day was yesterday. I stopped at the local health food store after church for some bulk spices. I took a reusable bag along for extra points on my rewards account.

At checkout, I was offered a free packet of heirloom tomato seeds in honor of Earth Day. Yes, please.

Some folks are big into Earth Day and loving the earth the other 364. Some folks scoff. Some folks like me, are somewhere in the middle.

I compost. I use reusable water bottles instead of buying bottled water. I use cloth napkins and real dinnerware. I cook from scratch, am careful about food waste, line dry some of my laundry, use reusable lunch containers and shop second hand quite often. I'm careful about the use of chemicals in our home.

Part of my cloth napkin stash. These have been going strong for around 3 years now. They're starting to show some wear from repeated washings. I usually get 3-4 years out of a stack of napkins. When they're worn out, I make new ones.

I grew up on the West Coast where things are just different. Overall, people tend to live a little greener. I hate styrofoam.

I also use some paper towels and paper plates some days. I use some ziploc baggies. We buy packaged food sometimes. I shop at Aldi where the produce is highly packaged but the price is right. Sometimes (like most of last year), I'm just too tired to recycle.

In spite of growing up in Oregon, I'm not a tree hugger. But I can't swing so far over to the extreme where I have no interest in caring for the environment.

This is where we live.  The Earth is one of God's gifts to us. As with all of God's gifts, I wish to be a good steward of what He has given.

On this day after Earth Day, can we all agree to be good stewards of our resources?

• To be intentional with our choices?
• To create more than consume?
• To conserve more than we waste? 
• To save more than we spend?
• To think before we act?

 A "green" smoothie.

Maybe you are full out "green". Or maybe you're like me and make small choices each day to minimize waste and maximize health, both for ourselves, our finances and the environment.

I cannot do everything but I sure can do something.

Maybe I can turn the lights off when I leave the room. Turn off the water instead of letting it run.  Save those veggie scraps to make stock. Walk somewhere instead of drive. Hang those clothes up to dry instead of running the dryer. Plant those tomato seeds already. Just this once.

And tomorrow, make some of the same choices again. 

Little choices add up to create a big impact. 

What will you do on this day after Earth Day?

**You may be interested in another Earth Day post I wrote "back in the day": Kermit, It is Easy Being Green.